Monday, March 19, 2012

When I got out of bed this morning, my mind was focused on the upcoming birthday party. I have my list, I have much to do before the big day.

By noon , my focus changed.
I received a call from my friend Toni, who also has a booth at the antique mall.
You could tell something was terribly wrong by the tone in her voice.

I don’t remember her exact words, but I do remembering hearing “ did you get your mail yet?” ....and I remember hearing her say “the mall is closing, he lost the lease”. I know we had some sort of a conversation, but the shock of learning that the Harpeth Antique Mall was closing, was a bit much to absorb.
Harpeth Antique Mall has been here for over 20 years.
It’s one of the staples in Franklin that everyone knows about and most people have shopped there at one time or another.

Mom and I usually stop in the mall on Mondays to restock and organize from the weekend. Our car was already packed with the fresh inventory for the booths...so we headed on over.

Toni, Mom and I were not the only ones that were stunned and trying to take it all in.
All the dealers that were there today, had that deer in the headlights gaze.
Some were packing their inventory to take to other booths in other malls, some were preparing to have a sale, some were trying to figure out where to go from here.
(we are in that category!)
We have about a month to figure out where we will go or what we will do.
We were doing so well, it is so sad to let it go.

I know deep in my heart that when one door closes another one opens....but getting from here to there feels tiring to me. I was so looking forward to my life starting to settle down from the last couple of years of what has been an upheaval.

When I first started talking to Toni, I thought for sure she was going to tell me that someone had passed....she just had that tone to her voice.
In a way, there has been a death.
A death to a store that I will really miss visiting and being a part of.
I will miss all the amazing dealers that became friends and I will miss the comradery between us.

I wish Carl the best in his retirement. He had a great run.

So, I didn’t get much done today for the party. I will start over again tomorrow.

Funny, this morning I came across my photo album of the different stages of our booths. I spent a few moments reminiscing. I had no idea I would be digging back into that album to post this recent event!

The booth back in 2010:

Thanks so much for stopping by. I always always always appreciate you taking the time to visit me.
The next post, will be happier! There is a party to prepare for!!
xoxoxoxox
Julie